As the world celebrates the 150th anniversary of Charles Darwin’s
“On the Origin of Species,” some facts on snails and snakes that
would have intrigued him.
Researchers want to transform a poor, remote Dominican town into a
locally owned retreat. But challenges, like hydrilla, an invasive,
choking water plant, await.
The plan will enlist companies and nonprofits, including “Sesame
Street,” to spend money and time to encourage students to pursue
science, technology, engineering and math.
Exposure to both tobacco smoke before birth and lead during
childhood increases a child's risk of developing attention deficit
hyperactivity disorder more than eight-fold, according to new
research from Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center.
Starting Jan. 1, plumbing materials sold or installed statewide
that carry drinking water can contain no lead, meaning millions of
dollars worth of existing inventory must be flushed down the
proverbial drain.
State environmental regulators want natural gas companies to
voluntarily emit less air pollution after tests showed high levels
of a cancer-causing chemical near wells in the Barnett Shale gas
field.
Since the 1997 international accord to fight global warming,
climate change has worsened and accelerated — beyond some of the
grimmest of warnings made back then. Even the gloomiest climate
models back in the 1990s didn't forecast results quite this bad so
fast.
Areas hard-hit by the U.S. automakers' slump are pitching
themselves to green technology firms. Workers and machines that
used to crank out cars are now making parts for solar and wind
power plants.
Wary of offending viewers and the authorities, and mindful of
making references to hugely complex science during three-minute
broadcasts, most television weather presenters have studiously
avoided using their prime-time slots to discuss global warming. But
that may be changing.
The East Antarctic ice sheet has been losing mass for the last
three years, according to an analysis of data from a
gravity-measuring satellite mission. The scientists involved say
they are "surprised" by the finding, because the giant East
Antarctic sheet, unlike the west, has been thought to be stable.
A group of 12 Mississippi Gulf Coast homeowners is suing 33 energy
companies and other conglomerates for allegedly emitting greenhouse
gases that the litigants say contributed to global warming and
fueled the Category 5 hurricane that destroyed their homes.
Rashida Bee hadn’t heard of Union Carbide Corp. till the night she
woke up with a burning sensation in her eyes. She would have been
just another housewife in a basti in Bhopal. Instead, she now
represents the victims of the Bhopal gas tragedy at conferences and
demonstrations across the world.
The Harper government is failing to enforce federal law and
exercise its constitutional authority in at least 10 different
aspects of monitoring the exploitation of Alberta’s oilsands and
its impact on water, says a new report to be released Monday.
Frozen salmon is better for the planet than fresh because it takes
much less energy to make it safely to your dinner plate,
Portland-based Ecotrust concluded in a new study.
To its critics, Monsanto is a corporate hybrid of Victor
Frankenstein and Ebenezer Scrooge, using science to create foods
that threaten the health of both people and the planet. To its
admirers, the innovations pioneered by Monsanto are the world’s
best hope of tackling a looming global food crisis.
In recent months, the Ethiopian government began marketing abroad
one of the hottest commodities in an increasingly crowded and
hungry world: farmland.
The holy grail of rice is the breeding of super grains designed to
resist death by salt. The ultimate result promises more than a
silver bullet for farmers struggling to grow bigger crops in a
degrading environment: It could provide billions of people with the
golden ticket to surviving a global food crisis that is well under
way.
A few years ago, the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force, started
what it thought would be a straightforward job: gathering the
newest science and asking about the benefits and risks of breast
cancer screening. The response to their recommendations was swift
and angry.
Experts fear that a Victorian man with leukaemia may be the first
Australian "infected" with cancer after treatment at a private
overseas stem cell therapy centre.
While frustrations continue for thousands of Illinoisans eager to
get the H1N1 flu vaccine, another population in the state began
lining up for shots over the last two weeks: thousands of inmates
in state prisons and local jails.
A new study suggests that children whose mothers smoked during
pregnancy and who are exposed to lead, even at a tenth of the
"safe" lead threshold set by the US CDC, have more than twice the
usual risk of attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder.
Mothers who smoke during pregnancy more than double the chances of
their children suffering from hyperactivity. Researchers estimate
that one-fifth of ADHD cases could be eliminated if pregnant women
stopped smoking.
A mysterious decline in the numbers of spawning salmon has become
one of the rites of autumn in British Columbia--bringing worries of
financial losses, threats of extinction, and a perplexing lack of
answers. Scientists and environmentalists agree that the causes
include overfishing and the destruction of spawning habitats.
In a world where wildlife is under increasing pressure, good
management can mean the difference between survival and extinction.
And in the Atlantic Ocean and the Mediterranean Sea, the management
of bluefin tuna can scarcely be described as good.
EDF, the giant French utility, is set to lead a global revival in
nuclear energy. But it is running into difficulties as a
controversial new boss takes over.
The private sector investment needed to tackle climate change will
not be made without a binding international deal on carbon
emissions, according to the head of a big business coalition.
Ed Miliband's hopes of having a key government policy on renewable
energy in place before the Copenhagen summit have been dashed by
internal wrangling over the final levels at which so-called
"feed-in tariffs" will be set.
Ukraine's economic collapse has produced a potential
multibillion-dollar bonanza, allowing the country to reap windfall
carbon credit profits from the smokeless smokestacks of its
industrial shutdown.
A leading climate change scientist whose private e-mails are
included in thousands of documents that were stolen by hackers and
posted online said Sunday the leaks may have been aimed at
undermining next month's global climate summit in Denmark.
An injection of U.S. talent into the $6.5 billion market in carbon
offsets would help clear bureaucratic bottlenecks, making way for
increased investment in clean energy, the CEO of a $310 million
environmental fund said.
NYT > Science